904 F.

2d 673
53 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 595,
54 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 40,062, 17 Fed.R.Serv.3d 49,
60 Ed. Law Rep. 1103

Elsa Alemany SANTIAGO, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.
Mrs. Blanche WOOD, Principal, Henry Flagler Elementary, et
al., Defendants-Appellees.
Elsa Alemany SANTIAGO, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Mrs. Blanche WOOD, Principal Henry Flagler Elementary,
Mrs.
Dorothy Farias, Asst. Principal, Henry Flagler Elementary
School, Mrs. Carol Bernstein, Supervisor of School
Libraries, Dade Co. Public Schools, Mr. Frank de Varona,
Area Director, South Central Area, et al., DefendantsAppellees.
Nos. 88-5313, 88-6196 Non-Argument Calendar.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eleventh Circuit.
July 3, 1990.

Elsa Alemany Santiago, Miami, Fla., pro se.

Phyllis O. Douglas, The School Board of Dade County, Florida, Miami,
Fla., for defendants-appellees.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of
Florida.
Before KRAVITCH, ANDERSON and CLARK, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:

Ms. Elsa Alemany Santiago, a Cuban born resident of Miami, Florida, brought
this Title VII action against several administrators of the Dade County Public
Schools alleging that she had been discriminated against based on her national
origin. According to the complaint, Ms. Santiago was hired by the Dade
County Public Schools in 1970 as a media specialist. During the first 12 years
of her employment, she enjoyed her work and received favorable evaluations.
However, in 1982, she was transferred to Henry Flagler Elementary School,
where she was subjected to repeated criticism. She filed several grievances with
the union, and was thereafter subjected to retaliatory action, intimidation, and
harassment. She was eventually forced to take a leave of absence, which has
apparently become permanent. The defendants answered, denying the crucial
allegations of the complaint, arguing, among other things, that the case should
be dismissed because the named defendants were not employers within the
meaning of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e and therefore were not proper party
defendants.

Ms. Santiago moved for appointment of counsel. The district court granted this
motion, but apparently was unable to secure counsel willing to represent her.

The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, alleging that they were
entitled to a judgment on two grounds: (1) the EEOC charge filed by Ms.
Santiago named Henry Flagler Elementary School, rather than the defendants,
as the discriminator, and none of the defendants received notice of the EEOC
proceedings; and (2) the School Board of Dade County, Florida, which was not
named as a defendant, was Ms. Santiago's employer, and the individuals named
as defendants were not employers within the meaning of Title VII.

The district court granted summary judgment on the grounds that the named
defendants were not employers within the meaning of Title VII. The court did
not address the defendants' alternative ground for summary judgment, that they
were not named in and did not have a notice of the EEOC charge.

The district court's order of summary judgment was entered on the docket on
January 5, 1988. On January 21, 1988, 11 days thereafter (excluding Saturdays,
Sundays, and legal holidays) Ms. Santiago filed and served a "Motion to Vacate
and Reconsider Order Granting Summary Judgment and Leave to Amend
Complaint to Name Indispensable parties...." She argued that the School Board
of Dade County had notice of her Title VII action, and that her case therefore
should not have been dismissed merely because she mistakenly named the
wrong defendants. She requested leave to amend her complaint to add the
School Board of Dade County and Henry Flagler Elementary School as
defendants, and to add a section 1981 claim.1

The defendants opposed Ms. Santiago's motion, arguing that she had failed to
meet the deadline for filing a Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e) motion and had failed to allege
any grounds for relief under Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b). Ms. Santiago replied,
explaining that the district court's order granting summary judgment was
erroneously mailed to her previous address, and she therefore did not receive
the order or notice of the final judgment until January 12, 1988, leaving her
little time to prepare her motion.

The district court construed Ms. Santiago's motion as a Rule 60 motion because
it was filed more than ten days after entry of final judgment. The court denied
the motion, noting that the defendants had raised the defense that they were not
employers within the meaning of Title VII in their answer, and that Ms.
Santiago had had since that time to amend her complaint.

Thereafter, Ms. Santiago filed a motion with the district court requesting
appointment of counsel on appeal. The district court denied the motion, noting
its previous difficulty in obtaining counsel for her. Within ten days of this
order, Ms. Santiago filed and served a motion to vacate the order, which the
district court denied.

This case involves the consolidated appeals of the district court's orders
denying appellant's motion to vacate the judgment and to amend the complaint
and her motion to appoint appellate counsel. Ms. Santiago argues that she is
proceeding pro se, and that her case should not have been dismissed merely
because she mistakenly named the wrong defendants. She argues that the
district court should have granted her relief from the judgment and allowed her
to amend her complaint to name the School Board of Dade County, the proper
defendant. The defendants argue that Ms. Santiago was on notice that she had
named the wrong defendants, but nevertheless failed to move to amend her
complaint prior to entry of judgment. They argue that she therefore was not
entitled to relief under Rule 60(b), and that the district court did not abuse its
discretion in denying her leave to amend her complaint.

10

Although Ms. Santiago did not make her motion to amend the complaint to add
the proper defendant until after the court had entered judgment, we find that
under the circumstances of this case the court abused its discretion in failing to
allow the amendment. The district court entered summary judgment for the
defendants on the basis that the Dade County School Board had not been
named as a defendant, citing Rogero v. Noone, 704 F.2d 518 (11th Cir.1983).2
In his order denying Ms. Santiago's motion to amend, the district court found
that because the defendants raised the defense that they were not "employers"
within the meaning of Title VII in their answer to the complaint, and the

plaintiff had failed to move to amend until after the summary judgment order
was entered, the plaintiff was not entitled to relief from judgment.
11

Ms. Santiago, unschooled in the intricacies of Title VII pleading, had named as
defendants only the individual supervisors who had been the persons she
alleges perpetrated the discriminatory acts against her. Her response to the
defendants' motion for summary judgment reveals that she believed that
because these supervisors acted on behalf of the school board, that the school
board would automatically be liable for their actions, despite the fact the school
board was not explicitly named in the complaint. Although the defendants did
raise the defense that eventually won them summary judgment early in these
proceedings, Ms. Santiago is not required to consider their arguments as
properly stating the law. Thus, her confusion as to who the named defendants
should be was not clarified until the district court entered summary judgment
for the defendants.

12

In the context of this case, where the school board has been providing a defense
for the named defendants throughout the proceedings, and the substance of the
plaintiff's claims would remain the same even if the school board were named
as a defendant, the district court abused its discretion by failing to allow the
plaintiff to amend her complaint. See Brown v. Georgia Dept. of Revenue, 881
F.2d 1018, 1023 (11th Cir.1989) (Where State Personnel Board was served
with original complaint, plaintiff could amend complaint after expiration of
limitations period to add individual members of Board to comply with Eleventh
Amendment); Wilger v. Department of Pensions and Security, 593 F.2d 12 (5th
Cir.1979) (When allegations in complaint reveal that there may be individuals
amenable to suit in federal court, district court abused its discretion in
dismissing suit with prejudice on Eleventh Amendment grounds without first
affording pro se plaintiffs opportunity to amend the complaint to add
appropriate defendants); Petrus v. Bowen, 833 F.2d 581, 583 (5th Cir.1987)
(Citing Wilger in remanding case to allow pro se plaintiff, who had named only
individual defendants in action brought under FOIA, to amend complaint to add
proper defendant agencies); Berndt v. Tennessee, 796 F.2d 879 (6th Cir.1986)
(Following rationale of Wilger in holding that district court should have sua
sponte given the pro se plaintiff leave to add the proper defendants.)

13

Despite the fact that Ms. Santiago's receipt of a copy of the summary judgment
order was delayed, she moved to amend her complaint to add indispensable
parties within eleven days of the entry of the order. The Dade County School
Board clearly has been aware of this lawsuit from the very beginning; every
pleading and motion filed on behalf of the defendants in this case has been
signed by "Phyllis O. Douglas, Attorney, The School Board of Dade County,

Florida." Thus, the school board has been aware of the substance of Ms.
Santiago's claims, and would not be prejudiced by being named as a partydefendant now. Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 15(c) (Allowing an amendment changing the
party against whom the action is asserted to relate back when (1) the claim
asserted arose out of the conduct set forth in the original pleading, (2) the added
party received timely notice of the action such that the party will not be
prejudiced by the amendment, and (3) the added party knew or should have
known that, but for a mistake concerning the identity of the proper party, the
action would have been brought against the party.)
14

The district court's order denying Ms. Santiago's motion to vacate the judgment
and amend her complaint to add indispensable parties is therefore reversed, and
the case is remanded with instructions to the district court to grant Ms. Santiago
relief from summary judgment and to allow her to amend her complaint to add
the School Board of Dade County, Florida as a defendant. Because the essential
facts and legal doctrines relevant to Ms. Santiago's appeal were ascertainable
without the assistance of court-appointed counsel, the district court's order
denying Ms. Santiago's motion to vacate its order denying appointment of
appellate counsel is affirmed. Wahl v. McIver, 773 F.2d 1169, 1174 (11th
Cir.1985).

15

AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and REMANDED.

Ms. Santiago does not argue on appeal that the district court's implicit denial of
her motion to add a section 1981 claim was in error

Ms. Santiago also argues in her brief that the district court erred in relying on
Rogero to grant summary judgment. The current appeal reaches only the merits
of the district court's decision denying the motion to vacate that judgment, and
thus we express no opinion as to the merits of the summary judgment order
itself